The student council’s best chance for saving humanity lies in peace, not war.
Creative Staff
Author/Artist: Yuji Iwahara
Translation/Adaptation: Amy Forsyth
What They Say
Can the student council save the world from cat-astrophe?!
The eleventh hour dawns upon the student council of Matabi Academy! With Kiba’s recounting of what happened in Ftukago a thousand years earlier, the line between enemy and ally begins to blur. The fearsome cat Spirit Beast Kaen is on the verge of achieving his goal to release the other Spirit Beasts… with the help of the Princess of Futakago?!
As the truth behind the barrier of Futakago is brought to light and the identity of the true enemy is revealed, Yumi, Kansuke, and their friends will have to fight for their lives, their school, and the fate of the entire world in the thrilling conclusion to Yuji Iwahara’s Cat Paradise!
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers):
Heading into the conclusion of this five-volume series, I was curious to see if Yuji Iwahara was going to surprise me. His previous series tend to throw in some crazy twists and turns, which worked well in ‘Chikyu Misaki’, but not so well in ‘King of Thorn.’ Happily, ‘Cat Paradise’ didn’t disappoint.
The story we’ve been getting up to this point is, unsurprisingly, not the whole truth about what had been going on. The battle of Kaen and the other spirit beasts against the student council, and their cats, was planned out by an outside force. Up to this point, it was obvious that they were being manipulated by someone. The Princess hastily explains the situation in full to the group before her powers are finally extinguished at the hands of Kaen.
But wait! We still have a battle between the spirit beast Sakira and student council member Futaba, the last member of the group who hasn’t had her backstory explained. The battle takes place during the long descent back to the ground, piling on the tension during the assault.
The nudity and violence get cranked up a degree or two during these last few chapters. Futaba and Yumi are put into compromising positions during their battles in logical but totally suggestive ways. Although some of the boys didn’t escape the fan-service noose either, Yamamoto and Akifuji have been running around the last two volumes shirtless.
The true villain comes out from hiding with his natural form revealed, and it’s a grotesque and appropriately horrific design. Like most bad guys he thinks he’s only doing what’s right to set the world into balance. It’s just a nice bonus that he would become all powerful. The full details of his plot veer off dangerously close to being overly complicated and unnecessary, but it ties into what we already learned about the spirit beasts from previous volumes.
Somewhat disappointing is that Yumi ends up being stuck as a damsel in distress during the final fight. I’ll guess I’ll forgive her for it because there wasn’t much she could do in that horribly compromised and disturbing situation. (Iawahara apologizes in his editor’s note for her not getting involved more in the final fight.)
The battle comes down to a test of wills and wits. With the mastermind holding all the power, having taken it back from the council members, it looks almost hopeless for the heroes. The resolution of the story isn’t a surprise but it is executed with the same precision and tight action as the rest of the series. There’s enough time left at the end for a full denouement to answer any lingering questions. That’s something I always hope for but for some reason most series seem to lack.
The first printing of this volume contains several glossy color pages at the front of the book.
In Summary:
The hardest thing to do with a short series like ‘Cat Paradise’ is to make it interesting and not have it fall apart. While the actual outcome of the series isn’t too surprising, getting to that point in this last volume is a crazy trip. Yuji Iwahara’s paces the last volume well enough to wrap everything up in a solid ending which left me pleased with how it all turned out. Characters could have used more growth but time probably didn’t allow for it. Fantastic art and dynamic battles carry the story along with a few twists and turns along the way. Action-adventure fans on a budget looking for a series with fun characters, a solid story, and some of the best-drawn cats in manga should pick this up.
Content Grade: A
Art Grade: B+
Packaging Grade: B+
Text/Translation Grade: A-
Age Rating: 13+
Released By: Yen Press
Release Date: September 30th, 2010
MSRP: $10.99
